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Assessment of Knowledge, Attitude and Practices Among Solid Waste Collectors in Lideta Sub-city on Prevention of Occupational Health Hazards, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Received: 25 November 2015     Accepted: 27 December 2015     Published: 23 February 2016
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Abstract

Municipal solid waste workers are exposed to a number of pathogens (bacteria, fungi, viruses, parasites and cysts), toxic substances, chemicals that come from the waste itself and from its decomposition. While standards and norms for handling municipal solid waste in industrialized countries have reduced occupational and environmental impacts significantly, the risk levels are still very high in most developing countries including Ethiopia because of inadequate understanding of the magnitude of the problem. Despite the severity of occupational health hazards encounter by solid waste collectors their provision, knowledge and usage of personnel protective equipment is low and there is no adequate and credible evidence on occupational health risks of solid waste collectors in Ethiopia. Therefore, this study was aimed to assess the knowledge, attitude and practices of solid waste collectors towards prevention of occupational health hazards in Lideta sub-city in Ethiopia. A cross-sectional survey was conducted among four hundred six solid waste collectors for this work. The data was collected by using semi-structured questionnaire and observational checklist, which was completed from December 2014 to February 2015. The data was entered into epi info version 3.5.1 and exported to SPSS 20 version for analysis. Multiple logistic regression analysis had been performed. Adjusted odds ratio with confidence interval had been computed to see the presence of association between the dependent and selected independent variables. The results on this finding were reported using different descriptive statistics. The response rate of this study was 94.8%. Female respondents accounted 69.7%. The mean age of the study subjects was 35 years, which varied from 17 to 65 years. About 60.8% of the study participants had satisfactory knowledge on preventing occupational health risks associated with solid waste handling. Most (75.9%) of the solid waste collectors had favorable attitude while only 37.2% of them had safe practice on preventing occupational health hazards. As compared to workers who were satisfied on their job, odds of having safe occupational health practice were 2.8 higher (AOR = 2.8, 95% CI: 1.84 - 4.26). The knowledge and attitudes of workers about prevention of occupational health hazards were moderate but the magnitude of having safe occupational health practice was very low. So, implementation of basic occupational health services with provision of personal protective equipment’s and supervising waste handlers on appropriate utilization is advisable.

Published in Science Journal of Public Health (Volume 4, Issue 1)
DOI 10.11648/j.sjph.20160401.17
Page(s) 49-56
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2016. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

KAP, Waste Collectors, Occupational Health, Ethiopia

References
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    Fikrom Gebremedhin, Mesfin Kote Debere, Abera Kumie, Zemedu Mehamed Tirfe, Andamlak Gizaw Alamdo. (2016). Assessment of Knowledge, Attitude and Practices Among Solid Waste Collectors in Lideta Sub-city on Prevention of Occupational Health Hazards, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Science Journal of Public Health, 4(1), 49-56. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.sjph.20160401.17

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    ACS Style

    Fikrom Gebremedhin; Mesfin Kote Debere; Abera Kumie; Zemedu Mehamed Tirfe; Andamlak Gizaw Alamdo. Assessment of Knowledge, Attitude and Practices Among Solid Waste Collectors in Lideta Sub-city on Prevention of Occupational Health Hazards, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Sci. J. Public Health 2016, 4(1), 49-56. doi: 10.11648/j.sjph.20160401.17

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    AMA Style

    Fikrom Gebremedhin, Mesfin Kote Debere, Abera Kumie, Zemedu Mehamed Tirfe, Andamlak Gizaw Alamdo. Assessment of Knowledge, Attitude and Practices Among Solid Waste Collectors in Lideta Sub-city on Prevention of Occupational Health Hazards, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Sci J Public Health. 2016;4(1):49-56. doi: 10.11648/j.sjph.20160401.17

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  • @article{10.11648/j.sjph.20160401.17,
      author = {Fikrom Gebremedhin and Mesfin Kote Debere and Abera Kumie and Zemedu Mehamed Tirfe and Andamlak Gizaw Alamdo},
      title = {Assessment of Knowledge, Attitude and Practices Among Solid Waste Collectors in Lideta Sub-city on Prevention of Occupational Health Hazards, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia},
      journal = {Science Journal of Public Health},
      volume = {4},
      number = {1},
      pages = {49-56},
      doi = {10.11648/j.sjph.20160401.17},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.sjph.20160401.17},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.sjph.20160401.17},
      abstract = {Municipal solid waste workers are exposed to a number of pathogens (bacteria, fungi, viruses, parasites and cysts), toxic substances, chemicals that come from the waste itself and from its decomposition. While standards and norms for handling municipal solid waste in industrialized countries have reduced occupational and environmental impacts significantly, the risk levels are still very high in most developing countries including Ethiopia because of inadequate understanding of the magnitude of the problem. Despite the severity of occupational health hazards encounter by solid waste collectors their provision, knowledge and usage of personnel protective equipment is low and there is no adequate and credible evidence on occupational health risks of solid waste collectors in Ethiopia. Therefore, this study was aimed to assess the knowledge, attitude and practices of solid waste collectors towards prevention of occupational health hazards in Lideta sub-city in Ethiopia. A cross-sectional survey was conducted among four hundred six solid waste collectors for this work. The data was collected by using semi-structured questionnaire and observational checklist, which was completed from December 2014 to February 2015. The data was entered into epi info version 3.5.1 and exported to SPSS 20 version for analysis. Multiple logistic regression analysis had been performed. Adjusted odds ratio with confidence interval had been computed to see the presence of association between the dependent and selected independent variables. The results on this finding were reported using different descriptive statistics. The response rate of this study was 94.8%. Female respondents accounted 69.7%. The mean age of the study subjects was 35 years, which varied from 17 to 65 years. About 60.8% of the study participants had satisfactory knowledge on preventing occupational health risks associated with solid waste handling. Most (75.9%) of the solid waste collectors had favorable attitude while only 37.2% of them had safe practice on preventing occupational health hazards. As compared to workers who were satisfied on their job, odds of having safe occupational health practice were 2.8 higher (AOR = 2.8, 95% CI: 1.84 - 4.26). The knowledge and attitudes of workers about prevention of occupational health hazards were moderate but the magnitude of having safe occupational health practice was very low. So, implementation of basic occupational health services with provision of personal protective equipment’s and supervising waste handlers on appropriate utilization is advisable.},
     year = {2016}
    }
    

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  • TY  - JOUR
    T1  - Assessment of Knowledge, Attitude and Practices Among Solid Waste Collectors in Lideta Sub-city on Prevention of Occupational Health Hazards, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
    AU  - Fikrom Gebremedhin
    AU  - Mesfin Kote Debere
    AU  - Abera Kumie
    AU  - Zemedu Mehamed Tirfe
    AU  - Andamlak Gizaw Alamdo
    Y1  - 2016/02/23
    PY  - 2016
    N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.sjph.20160401.17
    DO  - 10.11648/j.sjph.20160401.17
    T2  - Science Journal of Public Health
    JF  - Science Journal of Public Health
    JO  - Science Journal of Public Health
    SP  - 49
    EP  - 56
    PB  - Science Publishing Group
    SN  - 2328-7950
    UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.sjph.20160401.17
    AB  - Municipal solid waste workers are exposed to a number of pathogens (bacteria, fungi, viruses, parasites and cysts), toxic substances, chemicals that come from the waste itself and from its decomposition. While standards and norms for handling municipal solid waste in industrialized countries have reduced occupational and environmental impacts significantly, the risk levels are still very high in most developing countries including Ethiopia because of inadequate understanding of the magnitude of the problem. Despite the severity of occupational health hazards encounter by solid waste collectors their provision, knowledge and usage of personnel protective equipment is low and there is no adequate and credible evidence on occupational health risks of solid waste collectors in Ethiopia. Therefore, this study was aimed to assess the knowledge, attitude and practices of solid waste collectors towards prevention of occupational health hazards in Lideta sub-city in Ethiopia. A cross-sectional survey was conducted among four hundred six solid waste collectors for this work. The data was collected by using semi-structured questionnaire and observational checklist, which was completed from December 2014 to February 2015. The data was entered into epi info version 3.5.1 and exported to SPSS 20 version for analysis. Multiple logistic regression analysis had been performed. Adjusted odds ratio with confidence interval had been computed to see the presence of association between the dependent and selected independent variables. The results on this finding were reported using different descriptive statistics. The response rate of this study was 94.8%. Female respondents accounted 69.7%. The mean age of the study subjects was 35 years, which varied from 17 to 65 years. About 60.8% of the study participants had satisfactory knowledge on preventing occupational health risks associated with solid waste handling. Most (75.9%) of the solid waste collectors had favorable attitude while only 37.2% of them had safe practice on preventing occupational health hazards. As compared to workers who were satisfied on their job, odds of having safe occupational health practice were 2.8 higher (AOR = 2.8, 95% CI: 1.84 - 4.26). The knowledge and attitudes of workers about prevention of occupational health hazards were moderate but the magnitude of having safe occupational health practice was very low. So, implementation of basic occupational health services with provision of personal protective equipment’s and supervising waste handlers on appropriate utilization is advisable.
    VL  - 4
    IS  - 1
    ER  - 

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Author Information
  • School of Public Health, College of Health Sciences, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

  • Epidemiology and Biostatstics Unit, Department of Public Health, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, Arba Minch University, Arba Minch, Ethiopia

  • School of Public Health, College of Health Sciences, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

  • Epidemiology and Biostatstics Unit, Department of Public Health, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, Arba Minch University, Arba Minch, Ethiopia

  • Department of Public Nursing, Arba Minch Health Sciences College, Arba Minch, Ethiopia

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